5070_269145.jpg
5070_269145.jpg



The Coast of Labrador, 1866
Oil on canvas
72 x 113.3 cm (28 3/8 x 44 5/8 in.)
Signed and dated lower right: "Wm Bradford/1866"
Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund, 1983.529


The Spring by Delmore Schwartz
(After Rilke)


Spring has returned! Everything has returned!
The earth, just like a schoolgirl, memorizes
Poems, so many poems. ... Look, she has learned
So many famous poems, she has earned so many prizes!

Teacher was strict. We delighted in the white
Of the old man's beard, bright like the snow's:
Now we may ask which names are wrong, or right
For "blue," for "apple," for "ripe." She knows, she knows!

Lucky earth, let out of school, now you must play
Hide-and-seek with all the children every day:
You must hide that we may seek you: we will! We will!

The happiest child will hold you. She knows all the things
You taught her: the word for "hope," and for "believe,"

Are still upon her tongue. She sings and sings and sings.

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/100489

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